Improvement in rail-joints and fish-plates



.F BROWN & I, SMITH.

RAIL-JOINTS AND FISH-PLATES.- 51 135395 Patented Jan.30,1877.

Mau -a INVENTOR 6.

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UNITED STATES ATENT Qr'rron,

FREDERICK BROWN AND JOSEPH SMITH, OF COMO STATION,.WYOMING TERRITORY.

IMPROVEMENT IN RAIL-JOINTS AND FISH-PLATES.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 186,794, dated January30, 1877; application filed November 4, 1876.

To all whom it may concern: I

Be it known that we, FREDERICK BROWN and JOSEPH SMITH, of Como Station,in the county of Carbon and Territory of Wyoming, have invented a newand valuable Improvement in Rail-Joints and Fish-Plates; and we dohereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exactdescription of the construction and operation of the same, referencebeing had to the annexed drawings, making a part of this specification,and to the letters and figures of reference marked thereon.

Figure l of the drawings is a representation of transverse verticalsection of our rail-joints and fish-plates, and Figs. 2 and 3 are detailviews of the fish-plates. Fig. 4. is'a side elevation of our rail-jointsand fish-plates.

This invention relates to railway-joints; and it consists in thepeculiar construction and arrangement of the slotted fish-plates,interposed metal blocks, and other devices, hereinafter particularly setforth.

In the annexed drawings, A A designate two contiguous sections of anordinary pearshape-headed railway-rail, having a web, ,a, a neck, 00,and tread a Web a of each section is locked to the stringers by means ofa chair,

B, which consists of a sub-plate, b, and two clamping flanges orplates, 1) b Said clamping plates or flanges are recessed at their innerand under corners, at W, to receive the edges of said web, and they arespiked or bolted to said sub-plate I). Said chair, ex-

.' tending continuously across the joints of the rail, holds" thesections thereof firmly in place.

O0 designate 'two steel fish-plates, which sit closely against the sidesof neck ai and are secured thereto by bolts D D, passing throughperforations in said neck. One of said perforations (marked 61) is shownin Fig. 1. Each one of said fish-plates is'provided at its middleportion with an upwardly-extending block, E, and a downwardly-extendingblock, E. Blocks E E and E E are, respectively, opposite to one anotherwhen the proximate endsof rail-sections A A are in the position nearestto one another, and they then fill the space between the said sectionsat the top and bottom thereof, so as to present a To provide forcontraction and expansion, we make a longitudinal slot, 0', in each oneof said fish-plates 0, said slots 0 being near the opposite ends of saidfish-plates O, as shown in Figs. 2 and 3. In that part of eachfish-plate which is opposite to the slot O of the other plate we makeperforations c a. Each one of the attaching-bolts D, above referred to,passes through one of said perforations c in one fish-plate, and one ofsaid slots 0 in the opposite fish-plate. We have shown four of suchbolts; but the device would be operative if only two were used. Saidbolts are tightly secured by nuts 01 and washers d The aboveconstruction retains the rails firmly in place, but allows theirexpansion and contraction under the influence of varying temperature.When said sections contract, a space is left between each one of blocksE and one of the sections. Thus there are two spaces on opposite sidesof the rail at each joint. These spaces may be filled with pieces ofrail or other metal, if desired, so as to make the rail complete in allits parts.

The joint and fish-plates herein described will be found especiallyuseful in slide-rails for switches. Such rails are necessarily providedwith spaces or expansions, to allow the expansion and contraction ofsuch rails, otherwise the switches could not be worked but the boltsattaching to such rails the connecting-straps that extend across suchspaces are often torn off by the contraction of the metal in coldweather, leaving dangerous gaps. Our invention effectually guardsagainst the occurrence of any such accident, while freely permittingboth expansion and contraction.

What we claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

The perforated rail sections A, provided with base a and attaching-boltsD, in combination with theslotted and perforated fishplates 0, havingprojections E E, sub-plate b, and recessed clampingplates b 12 allconstructed and arranged in the manner as described, and for the purposeset forth.

In testimony that we claim the above we have hereunto subscribed ournames in the presence of two witnesses.

FREDERICK BROWN.

JOSEPH SMITH. Witnesses:

JOHN W. STRYKER, A. M. BAUMAN.

